COTABATO CITY (PNA) - A Muslim Ustadz has appealed to Muslims in the region not to fire their guns in celebrating the fasting month of Ramadhan.
"Please, I am appealing to you brothers and sisters, do not fire your guns because that is not part of fasting," Ustadz Jaafar Ali, spokesperson of the Darul Ifta (Islamic House of Opinion).
Historically, Muslim gun owners fire their guns to welcome the fasting month and during "Eud'l Fitr" (the end of fasting month) which resulted to injuries and even death.
Instead, Ali urged gun owners to donate electrical bulbs, electric fans, food and other items to Mosques to be given to the poor.
"Ramadhan means generosity, so share your blessings and not buy bullets to be fired during the activity, that is not part of Islam," he said.
In the past five years, at least five persons were hit by stray bullets every time Ramadhan ends. Stating that it was not part of the solemn activity, Ali said firing of guns during the fasting month destroys the image of Islam.
"It was nowhere in the Holy Qur'an that firing of guns is part of the celebration," Ali said.
Instead, he urged gun owners to help the poor, the needy, the sick, those in dire need of assistance and share their blessings.
Ali also announced that once the crescent moon is sighted Tuesday night, fasting month starts on Wednesday.
But if the moon is invisible on Tuesday night, fasting month officially starts on Thursday. Fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam.
As-Sawm (fasting) during Ramadan, ninth month in the Hijrah, is the fourth main obligations of Muslims, including recitation of Shahaddah, Salah (five-daily prayers), Zakat (charity), and Hajj, or pilgrimage to Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
Earlier, National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) Secretary Bai Omera D. Dianalan-Lucman said she formed the National Moon-sighting Committee (NMC) with some ulama (religious leaders) and NCMF officials "for purposes of obtaining accurate information, and in compliance with religious injunction on the need to observe the appearance of the new moon for the start and end of Ramadan fast."
She said NCMF regional offices in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao were also ordered to coordinate with the Central Office on the results of the moon-sighting.
Religious groups such as the Imam Council of the Philippines, Inc. (IMCI), Organization of Islamic Leaders Conference (OICLP), among others, are also involved in the activity.
IMCI chairman Aleem Said Ahmad Basher cited the importance of adhering to the Sunnah (Traditions) of Islam's prophet.
Meanwhile, restaurants will be closed in the morning and open in the late afternoon until the time for "shuhoor" (pre-dawn breakfast), start time for the fast. Those who are fasting will break their fast at sunset, also the time for Maghreb, the fourth of the five-daily prayers. (With a report by Edd K. Usman)
